Lusting You
by sassymuch
Summary: ONE SHOT! Craig Manning Caitlin Ryan


For many years he hadn't given her a second glance. A smile and a wave and he would be on his way. But during the months approaching his 22nd birthday he began to take second glances. Often he would let his eyes linger on her, searching her face for what mood she was in so he would know how to say hello; checking over her attire so he wouldn't be looking during conversation.

With one glance his stomach would begin to churn with excitement, and his nostrils would fill with the most beautiful smells. A mix of lavender, honey and strawberry. Her shampoo, lotion and lip gloss. Craig remembered these scents for other women he'd once fallen for.

Lavender from Ashley, honey and strawberry from Manny. Now when he thought of these smells he didn't see the faces of his two ex-girlfriends. He saw the face of Caitlin Ryan, soon to be Jeremiah.

The roundness of her face, the softness of her eyes, the brightness of her smile. These things had kept Craig sober for nearly three years now. He had a feeling, he called it his sixth sense, that if he was sober she would take him over Joey.

She was a blushing bride to be. Of course, she'd been a blushing bride to be a few years before. But something had come in the way. Her soon to be step-son needed to go to rehab, and Joey needed to spend the money that they'd saved up for the wedding on rehab.

Caitlin wasn't a picky girl, and knew that the health of Craig was far more important to her than the wedding of her dreams. Of course, now that she actually thought about it maybe Joey could've used all of the money that Craig had earned on his tour for rehab.

_Caitlin Ryan! How dare you think something like that._

Caitlin looked into the hallway mirror, trying to search her own eyes for any reasoning that she might actually be thinking something like that.

It was true that since their wedding had been postponed she and Joey had been a little distant. Well, she had been a little distant anyways. She was craving something, and she didn't know what it was.

"Hey Caitlin, hey Joey!"

Caitlin looked away from the mirror to see Craig walking down the hallways with a large smile on his face. A goofy smile appeared on the inside, but there was no way in hell that she would let it surface.

Was Craig Manning really what she was craving?

Joey had to leave early for work, and after he'd given his fiancee and his daughter their kisses on their cheeks he was off to his auto emporium. This left Craig, Caitlin and an awkward silence that was only filled with Angie's slurping.

"Ange, sweetie. Why don't you go wash up before we leave?"

Caitlin had a way with dealing with Angie that Craig admired; even if he had the same way of dealing with her as well. He admired her sweetness and often found himself wishing that he would've taken the moments when Caitlin asked him to do things in the past with more respect.

Craig cleared the small table off, and he brushed Caitlin's hand slightly. Something that most normal people wouldn't even notice. But in the case of these two people it was a bigger deal that it should have been.

Craig laughed nervously and Caitlin smiled at him like he was some serial killer who would chop her to pieces if she didn't smile and act like that was funny. Craig managed to keep his hand considerably close, and after a few seconds it felt like all of the lights in the house were dimming.

Soon in Craig's mind it was just him, Caitlin and the space in between. For a moment he felt as if they were both leaning in to what would be an exceptionally romantic moment.

"Uh, hello?"

Angie pulled Craig and Caitlin out of their fantasies, and Caitlin stood brushing off her skirt with a smile.

"Yeah. Let's go Ange. See you later Craig.."

Caitlin offered her goodbye awkwardly and was led out of the house by an Angie who had a feeling that that little stare might have turned into something more if she wouldn't have been there to stop it.

Two weeks after the hand incident, which Craig swore was a moment, it was time for Craig's 22nd birthday party. It was hosted at Joey's house, and a few close friends were invited for a nice dinner and a movie afterwards. Joey didn't want Craig to have a big party because he didn't want him to be tempted or anything. Caitlin had been planning the party in secret for nearly a month now, informing all of Craig's closest friends who had moved out of Degrassi. She'd given them enough notice to get off of work and come down to Toronto for the weekend.

Caitlin looked down at her watch, it was two minutes until Joey was supposed to bring Craig and Angie back home. She looked out nervously at the number of young adults who she'd invited. She didn't know if this whole party thing would go over well. She was hoping it would.

Two in the morning cravings were common in the Jeremiah household. Angie would creep down to the kitchen and pour herself a nightly bowl of Cap'N'Crunch. After the sounds in the hallway were quiet Caitlin knew that it would be fine for her to sneak off to the kitchen and have herself a few spoonfuls of her favorite ice cream. Craig would wake up at random hours of the night before heading downstairs to the kitchen for his raid which usually consisted of a large sandwich and an entire bag of chips.

This morning Craig woke up at 2:15 right when Caitlin was heading out of her bedroom to go and have some ice cream. Their rooms were on two different sides of the house, and when Craig was walking downstairs Caitlin was already grabbing her spoon ready to dig in.

"Caitlin?"

Caitlin was startled by Craig's voice and she nearly fell off of the stool she was sitting on, hitting her mid stomach between the left side of her ribs and her left hip rather hard on the counter edge.

_Damn.._

She thought wincing at the pain. She knew that she would be feeling that later.

"Yes, it's me Craig."

Caitlin nodded in the darkness and heard Craig's feet walk over slowly. The sound led to the cupboard where Craig pulled out a random bag of chips before tossing them on the counter.

For a moment there wasn't any noise but the sound of Craig making his sandwich, but as he looked over Caitlin's face he was sure that that moment that they'd had a few weeks ago wasn't entirely innocent. For a moment he actually felt as if Caitlin had wanted the kiss as much as he had.

When Craig turned to look over at Caitlin he noticed that she was looking too. This, he thought, was fate. There was no way that they would end up in eye contact two times in the same month for it _not_ to mean something.

Being the kind of guy who knows what he wants, and gets it Craig put down the mayonnaise and the knife. He looked at Caitlin again, just for good measure, and slowly made his way to her.

Caitlin felt something wrenching in her stomach; was she nervous? Or was she just afraid of the guilt that she was going to feel after whatever happened happened? She didn't know, and right now she wasn't going to have the time to figure it out.

Before you could say '_Downtown Sasquatch_' Craig had pressed his lips to Caitlin's. There was a surge of energy that flowed through Craig's body and after a few seconds they both pulled away looking at each other awkwardly.

There were probably many things that could have happened that night, but being an adult Caitlin wouldn't let them happen.

As Caitlin crawled back into bed after another awkward kiss she realized Craig wasn't what she was craving. She decided it was a new case for her to work on. One that would take her half way across the world for the summer so that she could be away from the mess that she'd created in just five minutes.

Craig stayed in the kitchen until dawn, eating nearly everything that was in the fridge. When Joey walked down that morning he didn't notice the goofy smile on his step-son's face. He just noticed that all of his breakfast cereal, eggs, bacon and bread were gone. Joey didn't realize it just yet, but when he would return home his fiancée would be gone too.


End file.
